While many career sectors are experiencing recruitment and retention challenges, detention centers are making big efforts but seeing little impact on the quality and longevity of candidates. 

The MACo Summer Conference panel, “Called to Corrections: What’s Working in Officer Recruitment and Retention,” gave an inside look at the challenges local detention centers are facing with getting and keeping good staff. Representatives from Charles, Anne Arundel, and St. Mary’s shared a bit of background on the issue and what they are doing by jurisdiction to close vacancies.

Presenters all spoke about where the problem began and cited it as being even before the COVID-19 pandemic. A prominent thing they all noticed was a diminished number of applications and more staff leaving rather than appreciating the benefits of a long term government career. Since then each agency began testing out new strategies to get the application numbers back up and eliminating barriers to entry. These tactics include extending recruitment periods from certain windows to year round, marketing open positions continually, and making the certification process for new officers easier.

While sporadically these efforts have at times bolstered the number of applications, each center said even when they do see a jump in number of applications, the quality of the candidates these days pales in comparison to prior decades. The difficulty of the job and lack of competitive pay, particularly for jobs considered far easier, has made it hard for the role of corrections officer to remain attractive to younger generations.